Scaling law for structural metastability in semiconductor nanocrystals

In contrast to extended solids, nanometer size crystals convert from one structure to another by single nucleation events, and the transformation obey simple kinetics. Barrier heights are observed to increase in nanocrystals of larger size, but also depend on the nature of the nanocrystal surface. These results are analogous to magnetic phase transitions in nanocrystals and suggest some general rules which may be of use in the discovery of new metastable phases.